A disposable absorbent article worn to assist in the collection of bodily discharges of incontinent persons is well known in the art. Such a conventional art includes a pant-type disposable diaper in which the ventral and dorsal portions of the diaper are connected and fixed together at both side edges of the ventral and dorsal portions to form a pair of leg openings and a unitary waist opening. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,449,353 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,735,839 disclose such a conventional pant-type diaper. One drawback with such a pant-type diaper is that the manner of applying the diaper is limited to being pulled on like a pant. Applying the absorbent article like a pant is advantageous in many cases, and is particularly suited for active, walking incontinent persons. However, even for the same wearer, there may be time when it would be useful to apply the absorbent article like a conventional tape-type diaper. For example, it might be more convenient to apply the absorbent article like a tape-type diaper when there is a desire not to remove the wearer's shoes. Since it is difficult to know when a particular mode of applying the absorbent article will be needed, it is beneficial to have an absorbent article that is adaptable to being used both as a pant-type diaper and as a tape-type diaper. This is preferable to keeping both types of absorbent article available in advance. An absorbent article that can be applied both like a pant-type diaper and like a tape-type diaper also permits the interior of the absorbent article to be easily checked without pulling the article downward.
A typical example of such a convertible pant-type diaper is disclosed in, e.g., International Patent Publications WO 00/35398. It discloses a pant-type disposable diaper in which the front and rear waist regions of the diaper are releasably fastened to each other at the side-panel portions of the diaper which are positioned on the hips of the wearer when the diaper is worn. The diaper includes a refastenable fastening system disposed to the side panels of the diaper for fastening the front and rear waist regions to each other. Such a disposable diaper as disclosed in WO 00/35398 can be applied both like a pant-type diaper and like a tape-type diaper because of the refastenable fastening system typically comprising a hook-type fastener and a loop-type fastener releasably engaged with the hook-type fastener. Such releasable fastening as disclosed in the prior art is typically achieved by overlapping the side-panel portions of the front and rear waist regions with each other. The overlap of the side-panel portions of the front and rear waist regions forms undesirable bumps at the side-panel portions while the diaper is worn. Such an undesirable bump could easily trigger undesirable detachment of the overlapped side-panel portions from each other during use of the diaper, e.g., due to friction exerted between the diaper and the wearer's garment. Further, the side-panel portion of a convertible pant-type diaper is typically elasticized in the transverse direction of the diaper. Therefore, a user of such a conventional convertible pant-type diaper suffers from the drawback that it is difficult for the user to overlap the side-panel portions of the front and rear waist regions with each other. The drawback results from the fact that the transversely elongated side-panel portion tends to recover its original size/shape due to the elasticity of the side-panel portion.
Another type of a pant-type diaper is disclosed in European Patent Application EP1133966A2. It discloses a disposable pull-on diaper in which the crotch region of the diaper is openable and reclosable with respect to the front waist region of the diaper. The fastening member such as a mechanical fastener, an adhesive tape and the like is provided to refastenably join the crotch region to the front waist region to form a pant shape. The diaper formed into a pant shape is pulled on the wearer's body like a pant. However, the fastening member can unfasten due to the force exerted to the fastening member while pulling up the diaper on the wearer. When it happens, the user must refasten the fastening member to reform a pant shape of the diaper and repeat the application process of the diaper to the wearer's body. In a worse case, the fastening member may be damaged to get out of order.
Based on the foregoing, there is a need for a pant-type disposable garment in which the crotch portion is openable and reclosable, but does not unexpectedly open during the wearing process of the garment.